Corporate site selectors look north: U.S. News rates the 'Best Countries to Headquarter a Corporation' and 'Best Countries' overall

Corporate site selectors look north: U.S. News rates the 'Best Countries to Headquarter a Corporation' and 'Best Countries' overall

Canada is the best country in the world to headquarter a business and second-best overall, according to a report by BAV Consulting, the Wharton School of Business and U.S. News & World Report

The report found that the low corporate tax rate, (a combined rate of 26.3% according to OECD), is not the only reason corporate site selectors point to Canada as the ideal place to locate a multinational corporation's headquarters.

BAV Consulting, the brand consulting arm of WPP, the world's largest communications services group, The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and the U.S. News & World Report scored 60 countries on 65 attributes to determine several 'best of' lists including 'Best Country' overall. According to its authors, the inaugural report aims to capture how people perceive countries on a global scale. Sixteen thousand citizens from around the world were surveyed in order to measure dimensions that have the potential to drive trade, travel and investment.

Canada ranks in 'top 5' across four important sub-rankings

In claiming second place overall, Canada ranked in the top five of four important sub-rankings: Quality of Life, Entrepreneurship, Citizenship and Open for Business.

Quality of life in Canada is second to none

Canada's quality of life topped the list of 60 countries, led by a perfect score of 10 for well-developed public education system, safety and job market, 9.9 for political stability, 9.8 for economic stability and 9.4 for having a well-developed public health system. The United States finished 14th and Singapore 15th in this category, while Mexico landed in 31st place.

Canada ranks highly for individual rights and economic freedom

From respect for property rights (9.7) to gender equality (9.3) and religious freedom (9.9), Canada ranked second only to Sweden and ahead of Denmark, the Netherlands and Australia to capture second place in the 'Citizenship' sub-ranking. Why is this important? Being a good global citizen turns a respected country into a lauded one, state the report's authors and Canada leads by example.

Canada is truly 'open for business'

Canada is reported to have no corruption (0) and very little bureaucracy (0.5), while receiving a score of 8.9 for transparent government practices. In third place, Canada ranks ahead of Singapore (8th), U.K. (18th) and the U.S. (23rd).

Canada ranks in the 'top 5' for entrepreneurship

"Innovation flourishes in countries that have a startup mentality," state authors of the report. Canada joins Germany, Japan, the U.S. and the U.K. as a country recognized for offering quality support to their entrepreneurs. Canada's achievement is highlighted by a score of 9.7 for educated population, 9.6 for having a well-developed infrastructure, and 8.8 for transparent business practices.